It’s 9/11 against Muslims: OIC
Jeddah, Feb. 14: In what can be described as the first confidence-building measure between Europe and the Muslim world, one of the highest ranking leaders of the European Union paid a visit to the secretary-general of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah on Monday.
Top on the agenda of the meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was a discussion on the ways and means of turning the tide in the raging furore over the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed that were first published in a leading Danish paper in September. Mr Solana agreed with Mr Ihsanoglu’s suggestion that the EU and the OIC should jointly make efforts to adopt a UN resolution on the lines of the existing Resolution No. 60/150, which calls for combating defamation of religions. “The new UN resolution should prohibit defamation of all prophets and faiths,” said Mr Ihsanoglu.
Mr Ihsanoglu asked for international legal measures against blasphemy. He said the EU should adopt necessary legislative measures by the European Parliament against Islamophobia. “People in the Muslim world feel that this is a new 9/11 against themselves. In Europe, Muslims have taken the place of Jews during World War II. There is a need for a UN legislation and clarification of existing conventions,” he said.
Mr Solana agreed with much of what Mr Ihsanoglu said. “We have decided to work together to overcome the consequences of the present crisis,” said Mr Solana. “We feel a profound respect for the Muslim people. We never wanted to offend their feelings. This was not our intention, this has never been our intention nor will it be in the future.” Mr Ihsanoglu said it was wrong to blame the OIC for what one reporter suggested was the organisation’s hard line that has riled sentiments in the Muslim world.
“We wrote to the Prime Minister of Denmark. We wrote to UN representatives, EU representatives etc. etc. The OIC had a very mild, conciliatory statement in the Mecca Declaration, but the European response was one of indifference. We haven’t heard anybody saying anything until the streets took over,” Mr Ihsanoglu said.
He said the street took over because of the republication of the offensive cartoons in Norway’s Magazinet on January 10. “We have always been trying to calm down reactions,” he said. “We deplored all acts of violence. But at the same time we have to defend the rights of Muslims.
We are not challenging anybody’s values of human rights; if these rights are misused we cannot stop people to do what they have done. I don’t think we can ask people not to express their feelings. Nobody has the power to stop public expression. But we made it clear right from the beginning that it (the protest) should be in a democratic way. It should be in a peaceful way. No violence, no attacks on others because this is against the ethics of the Prophet himself.”
When Mr Solana was asked whether he would ask the Prime Minister of Denmark to issue a clear-cut apology, he was vague: “I think the government of Denmark has said what it had to say.”
To a question on why Europe reacted only after extremist Muslims burned down Danish embassies and Danish flags, he said that perception was not true. “We talked way before the controversy burst onto the street. We started reacting way before that,” he repeated. Mr Solana was in Saudi Arabia on the first stop in a five-country West Asia trip mainly aimed at repairing ties strained by the row over the blasphemous caricatures.
Image of Goddess Durga used to promote whisky
Tuesday, 14 February , 2006, 14:22
London: Hindu community leaders in Europe are up in arms against display of goddess Durga's poster promoting a whisky brand and use of Lord Ram's image on a tissue paper.
It is time for Hindus around the world and the Indian government to stand up and be counted, Bimal Krishna Das, General Secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples, representing 90 per cent of the UK's 140 Hindu temples and by extension at least 75 per cent of Britains 6 lakh Hindus, said.
He said a disco bar in Greece has invited the wrath of Hindus for displaying a poster of goddess Durga promoting a whisky brand.
Large posters inside and outside the Balon Oriental Disco Bar in Athens depict the Goddess carrying bottles of Southern Comfort Whisky.
"The Indian community in Athens has been trying for the last three months to have the posters removed but in vain," said Paramjit Singh, originally from Jalandhar, now settled in Greece.
Letters have been sent to the American manufacturer of the Whisky to withdraw the poster, he said.
Also, despite protests, the tissues bearing Lord Ram's image still remain in circulation for over a year because their German manufacturer has refused to cease production, Das said.

